Market Neutral Fund Shifts Into Gear

The fund, a result of the recent reorganization of the Laudus Rosenberg U.S. Large/Mid Capitalization Long/Short Equity Fund (RMNIX) into the Vanguard Market Neutral Fund, is expected to appeal primarily to endowments, foundations, and other institutional investors.

The fund’s long/short market neutral investment strategy is an absolute return investment approach seeking performance that exceeds the returns of 3-month U.S. Treasury bills, according to a press release. Performance is driven by the managers’ ability to identify undervalued stocks to buy and overvalued stocks to sell short.

AXA Rosenberg Investment Management LLC and Vanguard Quantitative Equity Group serve as investment advisors of the reorganized fund.

Vanguard Market Neutral Fund offers two share classes, Investor Shares (ticker: VMNFX) and Institutional Shares (ticker: VMNIX), which feature estimated expense ratios of 0.50% and 0.40%, respectively (according to a press release, these expense figures exclude an estimated 150 basis points of dividend expenses associated with the shorting strategy of long/short funds, which are expected to be offset by the interest earned on the short-sale proceeds combined with the fund’s other investment returns).

A 1% fee will be assessed on shares redeemed within one year of purchase. The fund requires a minimum initial investment of $250,000 for Investor Shares and $5 million for Institutional Shares.